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I mentioned this at the end of last thread, but might as well repeat it here: Netherlands advances with a win against Australia no matter what. Once that game is over, we'll know what is at stake in Korea vs. Taipei. Australia is not out of it yet, but they'd need to win by at least 7 runs and have Taipei beat Korea.

In summary, what each team needs to advance:

Chinese Taipei: Win vs. Korea OR
Australia beats Netherlands OR
Loss to Korea by 3 runs or less

Netherlands: Win vs. Australia

Korea: Win vs. Chinese Taipei by 4 runs or more OR
Win vs. Chinese Taipei and Australia beats Netherlands OR
loss to Chinese Taipei and Australia beats Netherlands by 6 runs or fewer

This is getting about 13 steps ahead of things, but if form holds and Australia and China wind up at the bottom of their pools, it makes me wonder how they'll organize the qualifying rounds for 2017.

Australia certainly has the facilities to host a qualifier. I don't know anything about Chinese stadiums, but I'm sure they could build something if they wanted to.

But do they really want to have 2 qualifiers in Asia - which probably means sending 3 European teams over there? Make China or Australia come to the Americas or Europe, and play at inconvenient times? (Granted, a lot of the Australian team is playing in the U.S. during the regular season.) Put both of them in an Asian qualifier? (Highly doubtful.)

Like I said, getting way ahead of everything, but it's something to think about.

Too late to edit my post above. Netherlands wins a tiebreaker of 1-3 teams if their loss is by 3 runs or less Netherlands and Korea are even if both lose and Netherlands loss is by 4 runs. Korea comes out ahead on a tiebreaker of 1-3 teams if Australia wins by 5 or 6 runs.

Australia certainly has the facilities to host a qualifier. I don't know anything about Chinese stadiums, but I'm sure they could build something if they wanted to.

I know China has some stadiums, although they did demolish the main Olympic baseball stadium in Beijing. However, I'm sure any qualifier in China, no matter where in China it is, would probably require a bunch of logistical things (with the government) that wouldn't be happening somewhere else, so I'd have to guess China would be far less likely than Australia to host a qualifier.

Like you said, we're way ahead, but I'm guessing Australia would probably take roughly the place that Taipei had, in a pool with New Zealand, the Filipinos and Thailand. China is far more likely to be in a situation like South Africa or Canada was in, having to go somewhere else to play.

Assuming that Italy and Spain are the other two, I'd guess it'd be something like this (working on it):

If an MLB team wanted to sign Cordemans or another Honkballer, would they be eligible to sign as an international free agent or would they have to go through a posting process, like in Japan and Korea?

What's sad is that this happens EVERY TIME they do this in Asia. Unless the local team is playing, nobody shows up. You'd think MLB would get the hint by now and either suggest putting some of the non-marquee matchups in smaller stadiums (similar to how two games with Italy are going to be in a spring training stadium instead of Chase Field) or lower the prices of non-marquee games.

I think it has to do with the heterogeneity of most Asian societies, I guess, mixed with the middle-of-the-day timing.

Not sure how they do the pricing, but if they haven't already, but they should offer free admission to the other games with a ticket stub (You can make the home team games a little more expensive to make up for it, or discount the "ticket strips"). Not sure how much of an incentive free entertainment would be without a rooting interest, but I would think having the possibility of more people in the stands would be worth the possible loss in ticket sales for these games.

What's sad is that this happens EVERY TIME they do this in Asia. Unless the local team is playing, nobody shows up. You'd think MLB would get the hint by now and either suggest putting some of the non-marquee matchups in smaller stadiums (similar to how two games with Italy are going to be in a spring training stadium instead of Chase Field) or lower the prices of non-marquee games.

It's not just Asia. Canada vs Italy drew 12,411 in Toronto. The final game in that pool (Venezuela vs US) had just over 12,000 watching. Canada vs USA drew over 40,000 but no other game in Toronto drew over 13,000. Skydome looked really empty for most of those games.

Canada vs USA drew over 40,000 but no other game in Toronto drew over 13,000. Skydome looked really empty for most of those games.

Although on that I'd partially place the blame on the double-elimination format. The only game everybody KNEW was going to go on were the games on day one. Actually, that's one of the problems with double-elimination: you don't know what teams you'll see when you buy the ticket, and, unlike semi-finals or finals, there's a chance you might end up seeing a crappy matchup. Similar stuff happened in the double-elimination round of the '09 WBC.

It's not just Asia. Canada vs Italy drew 12,411 in Toronto. The final game in that pool (Venezuela vs US) had just over 12,000 watching. Canada vs USA drew over 40,000 but no other game in Toronto drew over 13,000. Skydome looked really empty for most of those games.

On a positive note, the lowest attended WBC game at Marlins Park will be more than the highest attended Marlins game...

Although on that I'd partially place the blame on the double-elimination format. The only game everybody KNEW was going to go on were the games on day one. Actually, that's one of the problems with double-elimination: you don't know what teams you'll see when you buy the ticket, and, unlike semi-finals or finals, there's a chance you might end up seeing a crappy matchup. Similar stuff happened in the double-elimination round of the '09 WBC.

That's true, I'd forgotten about that (and Canada's ignoble defeat at the hands of Italy) until after I'd posted. Still, it's safe to say that early-round WBC games are not a draw without some sort of hook.

How did Cordemans never get a shot in MLB/MILB is what I'm wondering. I think the Nationals at one point held his rights (and still might), but he's basically the Dutch Greg Maddux. Did he come up like the second before European Scouting became a thing?

Yeah, the entire problem with this pool is that apparently Taiwan made it illegal to import velocity into the country. Anyone out there throwing faster than Kuo?

it is being widely reported that the MLB crew is completely messed up in Taiwan in quite a few ways , one of it is the messed up guns. the Miles gun is anywhere between 3 to even 5+ miles slower than the local KM gun or the guns the MLB scouts are bringing. interview with the scouts says they're seeing a lot of 90mph + and some mid 90s pitch from Kuo / Yang / Chen. so essentially, add at least 4 to what you see on screen .

"There's no point to any of this. It's all just a... a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So I take pleasure in the details."

or

"You can't navigate me. I may do mean things, and I may hurt you, and I may run away without your permission, and you may hate me forever, and I know that scares the living #### outta you 'cause you know I'm the only real thing you got."

or

"I'm bursting with fruit flavor."

The first one actually sounds like something the Alan Ashby might say now that he's with the Astros.

From lookout landing "This season in the Australian Baseball League, the average OPS was right around .715, with twice as many strikeouts as walks. After not playing for about three years, Snelling hit .273/.492/.398, with 32 walks and 12 strikeouts. The next-best OBP in the league was .423."

it is being widely reported that the MLB crew is completely messed up in Taiwan in quite a few ways , one of it is the messed up guns. the Miles gun is anywhere between 3 to even 5+ miles slower than the local KM gun or the guns the MLB scouts are bringing. interview with the scouts says they're seeing a lot of 90mph + and some mid 90s pitch from Kuo / Yang / Chen. so essentially, add at least 4 to what you see on screen .

I haven't even been paying attention to the gun, just noticing the sound and the look of the pitches. The velocity indeed is coming out of the Taiwan pitching staff, with the occasional exciting Korean pitcher.

[66] According to BB-Ref, he played in the Blue Jays' organization in '09. It also has his Honkbal stats, though for whatever reason bb-ref only has 2007 and '08 Dutch League stats. It has rosters for some other years but only has stats for those two years.

OK, I'm confused here... after all that talk about tiebreakers based on runs scores / allowed, how are the Flying Honkbalers automatically advancing? I can understand it being hard for Korea to beat Taipei by enough runs, but... I'm sure I'm missing something obvious here...

[95] The tiebreaker is a formula that can be very closely approximated by run differential in games against tied opponents. The Netherlands is even on run differential, meaning they can't have the worst run differential of the three, since if somebody is positive, somebody else would be negative. It is possible that all three teams will be even, if Korea wins by exactly five runs, in which case I'm not sure who the odd team out is.